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Issues brief -10/27/09
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1. Study says Seattle District Administrative Costs High
Dick Lilly reports in Crosscut about a study by Meg Diaz which finds that administrative costs in Seattle Public Schools are high.
Seattle Public Schools spends three times more on non-teaching support staff and administration than shown in the budgets presented to the School Board, according to a study by a former business analyst — who also is a school district parent.
The study, presented to the board earlier this month by analyst Meg Diaz, has prompted members of the board’s audit and finance committee to ask Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and Don Kennedy, the chief financial officer, to explain the discrepancy. As Diaz puts it, “The lack of consistency between the budgets presented to the board and public and the budgets filed with [the Superintendent of Public Instruction] masks excessive growth in central administration."
Kennedy has promised at least a preliminary response to the Diaz study at the committee’s Nov. 5 meeting, according to board member Steve Sundquist, the committee chairman. Sundquist, who is retired from an executive position at Russell Investment Group and also has a finance background, described Diaz’s study as “a thorough job” that “raises a number of questions.”
One of the slides presented by Diaz sums up the administrative cost issue
Board Executive Summary
The lack of consistency between the budgets presented to the board and public and the budgets filed with OSPI masks excessive growth in Central Administration
The Superintendent’s Proposed Operating budgets are inconsistent with the F-195 budget reports filed with OSPI
The total amounts of the budgets are the same; categories within the budgets are substantively different. The 2008-09 budget presented to SPS board lists “Core Administration” as composing 2.8% of the total operating budget, $15.3M, while the budget filed with OSPI reveals Central Administration as composing 8.1% of the total operating budget, $45.1M
Many administrative costs (Supervision of Instruction, Supervision of Nutrition, Supervision of Transportation and Supervision of Buildings) have been assigned to other categories without explanation. All other districts examined report these costs as Central Administration
SPS’ Central Administration costs have increased steadily for a decade, despite declining enrollment
Central administration FTEs have increased 48% since 1998. Enrollment in the same period has declined 7.5%
Central Administration cost growth is 96% in the last decade, well out of line with growth in the overall operating budget and other budget sectors
Growth trend has not abated since State Auditor called attention to top-heavy administrative structure
Seattle’s administrative burden compares unfavorably to other large districts in the state which are growing more efficient not less
Other large districts now face similar demographic complexity & faster rates of change, but have curtailed administrative growth more effectively than SPS
Seattle’s Central Administration is large when compared with similarly-sized districts nationally as well
See, Washington State Auditor’s Reports, 2007 Audit Report , 2009 Audit Report and July, 2009 Audit Report It will be interesting to see how the district responds.
2. A New Type of Teacher Contract
Stephen Sawchuk is reporting in Education Week about the New Haven teacher contract which makes changes in how teachers are paid among other things.
A teacher contract approved in New Haven that lays the groundwork for changes to the way teachers in the Connecticut city are paid, supported, and evaluated, has been hailed by union and district leaders alike—as well as federal education officials—as a potential model for the country.
“This is an incredibly progressive contract,” said Joan Devlin, a senior associate director in the American Federation of Teachers’ educational-issues department. “It addresses teacher voice, and it gives the district the flexibility it needs to make [these reforms] work.”
Ratified by teachers earlier this month, the contract awaits only the approval of the city’s Board of Aldermen. It is set to go into effect in July.
AFT President Randi Weingarten called the pact a template that could be replicated elsewhere. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, meanwhile, praised the union for agreeing to address changes to areas that have been traditionally sensitive for teachers.
Officials from both the union and district said an unusual bargaining model in which reform issues were discussed apart from bread-and-butter ones helped get the pact finalized before a tight deadline under the state’s collective bargaining law sent it into arbitration.
The contract outlines a number of areas that would be settled by two committees of union officials, district representatives, and parents. A reform committee would make recommendations on the best ways to measure student growth. It would consider growth in test scores, as well as other measures of achievement, said Ms. Devlin, who provided help to the New Haven Federation of Teachers during the bargaining process.
Those recommendations would be used by a separate teacher-evaluation committee charged with determining how to weight the student-growth data as part of an overall teacher-evaluation system capable of distinguishing among four levels of performance.
The committees’ work would also take place transparently, with progress reported to the board of education and the public, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said in an interview….
The contract is expected to help move along Mr. DeStefano’s ambitious education reform agenda. A centerpiece of his campaign for this year’s election is closing the achievement gap in six years by addressing teacher effectiveness and overhauling low-performing schools. But those pending changes now bear the union’s fingerprints, too. For instance, as part of teacher evaluations, the parties plan to establish a peer-assistance and -review program for veteran teachers.
Such programs, in which struggling veterans receive assistance from other teachers before facing dismissal, have long been promoted by the AFT.
The New Haven reform committee would also work to create a schoolwide performance-pay program and a career ladder for teachers who take on extra responsibilities. Under the contract terms, the pay program would reward schools whose students made “substantial” progress, and it would charge a committee of teachers and principals in those schools with determining how to divvy up bonus funds.
As reported in the article, the key component is the collaborative effort to resolve disputes. The recent Kent teacher’s strike was fairly contentious and anything to make it easier to resolve disputes is a good thing. See, Issues Brief Labor Day Weekend and Issues Brief 9/12/09
3. A Couple of Articles about Teacher Training
Jennifer Medina reports in the New York Times about Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s speech about teacher training
Calling scores of education school programs “mediocre,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Thursday implored universities to significantly change the way they prepare teachers to run classrooms, saying a “revolutionary change” was needed to train as many as one million new teachers in five years.
During a speech at Columbia University’s Teachers College, Mr. Duncan said that too often the schools of education were simply seen as a “cash cow” for universities, because they are relatively inexpensive to run and have high enrollment.
“By almost any standard, many if not most of the nation’s 1,450 schools, colleges and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st-century classroom,” he said.
Mr. Duncan said that he had met hundreds of teachers who complained that they did not get enough practical training with classroom behaviors, particularly with poor students.
A report by a former president of Teachers College, Arthur Levine, found that roughly 60 percent of education school alumni said that their programs did not prepare them to teach.
The debate over teacher education is particularly loud in New York City, which has a number of schools.
Mr. Duncan noted that more than half of the country’s teachers are trained at colleges of education and only a fraction come through alternative programs such as Teach for America. But nontraditional programs have continued to grow in New York City; roughly a third of the teachers hired in 2008 came through Teach for America and the city’s Teaching Fellows program, which places rookie teachers in high-needs schools.
Stephen Sawchuk also reports about the speech in Education Week I graduated from a very good school of education, but I still say Amen Brother to Secretary of Education Duncan. I wholeheartedly support school choice, which will mean a competitive environment for schools. Teachers not only will have to manage classrooms, but in a school choice environment educators must be managers in the business sense making sure that schools use resources effectively.
4. Do You Know What Your Child is Dreaming?
Because of the Internet, cell phones, texting and tweeting it is important for parents to have an idea of what is going on with their child. Sara Jean Green writes in the Seattle Times about one pimp selling false dreams to young, insecure girls.
To get a girl to prostitute herself, a pimp must first "sell her a dream" by confessing his love and promising her a future.
But of course, he doesn't really mean it, said Mycah Johnson, a convicted pimp and admitted gang member who Wednesday testified in King County Superior Court against the man he says taught him how to pimp out young girls.
"Most girls are insecure," said Johnson, the 20th witness to testify against DeShawn "Cash Money" Clark, 19, an alleged member of the West Side Street Mobb who is on trial on charges that include promoting prostitution, human trafficking and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
"Do you look for girls who are insecure?" asked Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sean O'Donnell.
"Yes," Johnson replied
Think that because your child grew up in the right neighborhood and has a bright future, he or she could never get involved in such activities? Well let’s hope not. In the meanwhile, do you know who their friends are? Do you know if they have substance abuse problems? See, Child Prostitution
Alerts
1. I Love the Seattle Public Library
I love the Seattle Public Library and I love the librarians. I do all kinds of research for this blog and I am working on a couple of books. So, when Mary Ann Gwinn wrote about proposed cuts to the library in the Seattle Times, my only thought is people must act.
Seattle, one of America's most literate cities, home to the Gates Foundation global libraries initiative, may have to shut most of its libraries two days a week.
That's the prospect the Seattle City Council contemplates this fall as it hammers out a final version of the city budget.
Since 2000, library usage in the city has soared; from 4.5 million in-person and virtual visitors to 13.2 million in 2008, according to the library.
Nevertheless, responding to Mayor Greg Nickels' directive to city departments to cut budgets in response to a $72 million revenue shortfall, the library is proposing a 23 percent reduction in library hours.
Under the proposal, 21 out of 27 branches in the city would be closed Fridays (when all branches are now open) and Sundays (right now, 16 out of 27 branches are open).
On Wednesdays and Thursdays, these 21 branches would open an hour later (11 a.m.) and close 2 hours earlier — 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. On Saturdays, they would open an hour later, at 11 a.m., closing at 6 p.m. (the way they do now)….
Let the Mayor and City Council know how much you love the library.
2. Support Elliott Bay Bookstore
The Seattle Times has a great editorial about supporting the Elliott Bay Bookstore, which is contemplating a move out of Pioneer Square. According to the editorial a couple of things could help the store.
But it is difficult to argue with owner Peter Aaron when he stresses that the store's long-term health and viability depend on relocating to a neighborhood with a larger reading populace. Between football games and pub crawls, Elliott Bay hasn't been selling enough books.
Undoubtedly the move will hit Pioneer Square hard. Elliott Bay has been a retail anchor and draw in the community for more than three decades. It is another setback for that area's revitalization efforts, which have had to combat everything from an earthquake to Mardi Gras riots to the loss of anchor tenant, NBBJ, the country's largest architectural firm.
The next steps are twofold: helping Elliott Bay toward long-term stability and redoubling efforts to build a stronger economic base in Pioneer Square. The two tasks are not at opposite ends. The city Office of Economic Development has come up with appropriate remedies for Elliott Bay including short-term financing options and technical expertise.
I love books and I will always wonder what would make someone want a Kindle when they could turn the pages of a book. I like the smell of books and feel a great deal of comfort just having books around. I suppose that may be generational. I hope that there will always be books around.
Dr. Wilda says this about that ©
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